Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 49: Academic Discussion (Three more updates, please follow)

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Academic Discussion (Three more updates, please follow)

Jiuyue followed closely behind Duan Mingyuan, her footsteps light, fists clenched, yet her body couldn’t help but tremble.

Excitement.

It was a trembling that seemed to emanate from the depths of her soul, and she could no longer remember when she last felt this excited.

Everyone knew that Mr. Mingyuan was strong, but nobody knew just how strong he was. The last time she tried to inquire about it under the guise of an interview, she was brushed off. But now, she was finally about to uncover the answer to that question.

Jiuyue, calm down.

Otherwise, your fox tail will be exposed.

She pinched the back of her hand fiercely, using the pain to ease her excited emotions. After all, she was still seen as a little fox with a Life Energy of 0 in Mr. Mingyuan’s eyes, trembling in the face of an enemy. If she suddenly sprouted nine tails, things would become inexplicable.

No one was more eager than her for Mr. Mingyuan to meet the lady. Or rather, this was the true purpose of her adopting the persona of "Information Jiuyue."

This was a matter that took precedence over any nurturing game.

Previously, neither the evil spirits infiltrating Mr. Mingyuan’s company nor the clock repairer who attacked Yang Ping could serve as a true test of his strength; they were at best pebbles by the roadside, easily kicked aside when encountered.

When the gap in Life Energy was so vast, Ability itself no longer mattered.

Only a collision within the "Barrier" could vividly demonstrate the extent to which Mr. Mingyuan had reached.

At this moment, they were walking within the "Barrier."

The crimson carpet underfoot, the portrait paintings on the walls, the crystal chandelier overhead – even the dust invisible to the naked eye was part of the "Barrier."

Unlike those pebbles that hadn’t even grazed the threshold, the owner of Congyun Hotel was very strong and had long mastered the use of "Barriers."

Along the shaky stairs they climbed, coming to a stop at the end of the fourth floor.

The entire corridor was deserted; the "Braves" keen on ghost house explorations had been chased in the exact opposite direction by revived ghost stories.

Tang Qianqian had said that the stairs to the fifth floor would only appear after the sacrifice ceremony was over, which would be when the lady was at her most vulnerable. But Mr. Mingyuan seemed uninterested in taking advantage of weaknesses.

Jiuyue saw him lift his right foot and step onto the air before him.

Almost simultaneously, Congyun Hotel responded to him, as stairs appeared beneath his feet out of nowhere, rising into the air. He followed these stairs that ascended from thin air, all the way to a closed eave. With a soft "click," a secret door, which should not have been there, opened before them.

Just now, the "Barrier" had been rewritten to accommodate their visit.

"Knock, knock, knock—"

Before entering, Duan Mingyuan politely knocked on the door, "Excuse me."

"I was wondering when you would come to find me."

Responding to them was a hoarse voice, carrying the breath of decay as it brushed against their faces.

The chamber behind the secret door was much smaller and antiquated compared to the splendor of the other four floors, with furniture covered in a thick layer of dust that at first glance looked more like someone’s boudoir.

The sole source of light in the space was a boiling cauldron at the center of the room, emitting steam and a ghostly green glow.

Mixed within the sound of "bubble, bubble" from the cauldron were other noises – if one listened carefully, it sounded like someone crying out in sorrow, from a distant space.

The steam would occasionally reveal twisted faces that quickly merged back into the room.

In front of the pot was a wheelchair, upon which sat a withered figure.

She wore a long dress of red satin symbolizing joy, but her flesh had already decayed away to leave nothing but bones.

The speaking voice had come from the skeletal figure on the wheelchair.

"I’ve long heard about you, I just didn’t expect you to fraternize with those failures who can’t even show their faces in public," she said with biting sharpness, her acerbic nature fully displayed.

Duan Mingyuan guessed that these "failures" she referred to were probably Mr. Da Jiang and his organization.

"There were rumors that there was a devil in this city, one who exclusively targeted evil spirits. But for some reason, the devil disappeared for a few years..."

The skeleton paused, then spoke with malice, "If you didn’t come for me, I would have thought you’d been slaughtered by your company. How about it, did they find you, advising you to behave?"

"It seems they must have come to you."

Duan Mingyuan observed the room.

The room was not created by a barrier; both the staircase leading to the fifth floor and the room itself genuinely existed. The creation of the barrier simply concealed their presence.

Traces of meticulous decoration were also evident inside the room, showing that the person who constructed this place wanted the occupants to feel comfortable.

The aggressive tone of Bai Gu’s words inadvertently confirmed a suspicion in Duan Mingyuan’s mind.

While he carefully reviewed the ghost stories of Congyun Hotel, he discovered a significant loophole in the timeline.

The ghost stories involved the extensive history of the entire Qian Congyun family, yet rumors of hauntings only emerged after an Extraterrestrial died in Congyun Hotel a few years ago.

Even if the lady of the house was the mastermind behind everything, she had kept a low profile for a substantial period.

The vanished staircase,

The non-existent fifth floor,

And Qian Congyun’s wife, who was almost never mentioned in the family’s history.

A realization struck Duan Mingyuan, "Someone has confined you here, was it the company or your husband?"

As if the words had touched a raw nerve, green flames suddenly blazed within the hollow eye sockets of Bai Gu. Life Energy spread out in a suffocating manner, the cries from the pot became clearer, and the entire hotel shook with a tremble.

"Don’t mention that bastard in front of me!"

Bai Gu pointed a bony finger behind Duan Mingyuan, and the secret door vanished in the blink of an eye, with the staircase to the fifth floor once again receding into nothingness. "Everything in this world has its price, haven’t you ever wondered why the Extraterrestrials would kindly bring their knowledge here? That bastard never doubted, just like the other trash, believing that all of it came from the ’Deities’’ benevolence!"

Deities come from the heavens.

They were compassionate and kind, treated everyone selflessly, and were willing to teach mortals everything they knew.

Besides that, it was hard for people back then to think of any other explanation that made sense.

"Their requirement was for me to move in here."

The mournful voice of Bai Gu was omnipresent, "Then they forbade me from passing on my knowledge to the next generation. In exchange, they promised to protect my family and ensure the hotel’s business would always thrive."

"I see."

Duan Mingyuan silently noted, and with that, the doubts in his mind unraveled.

A few years ago, the Extraterrestrials moved into Congyun Hotel to completely buy it out and transform it into a business center. After learning that the Extraterrestrials had broken their promise, the lady of the house had enough reason to kill them, which is why the strange tales of Congyun Hotel began to spread widely from that time.

But this also indirectly proved another point.

Unlike other ghost stories of Congyun Hotel, Qian Congyun’s wife had been confined here from the beginning, never having left.

"Are you, like those failures, here to get rid of me?"

The green flames flickered in Bai Gu’s eye sockets.

"That’s one of the reasons."

Duan Mingyuan had no intention to conceal, for this was a hotel that held sacrificial rituals every now and then. But there was something even more important on his mind. He bowed his fist in respect, "However, before that... Madam, rare is the opportunity, and I wish to engage in some academic discussion with you before proceeding."

?

In this rare passionate scene, Jiuyue was completely unaffected by the atmosphere, her tail twitching with irritation.

Who are you calling madam?

Is that a name to be used so casually?

There were significant issues with this lady of the Qian family, nobody knew her name, yet she had such a convenient title for others to take advantage of!

Duan Mingyuan was oblivious to Jiuyue’s inner thoughts as he took a step forward.

The evil spirit he had encountered before, who had just qualified for an intermediate professional title, wasn’t very communicative, causing him to miss out on a chance to delve deeper into academic issues.

A sense of excitement he hadn’t felt in a long time stirred within him after putting on the Life Energy Meter.

"Unable to determine"

The monocle made its assessment of Bai Gu.

"Please enlighten me."

Bai Gu snorted coldly from the wheelchair, "Don’t get cocky just because you’ve beaten a few failures. In our time, there were plenty of people like you!"